The Charity’s corporate partnerships officer Steve Salazar, has been pounding the training miles
What’s that feeling; excitement, nerves? Have I trained enough? What’s that niggle in my ankle? Why did I do this to myself?
More importantly…am I ready?
These are just some of the questions I have been asking myself over the past few weeks. As I am sure you have as well, at some point along this journey. The good news – you are not alone.
At this point the most important thing is making sure that we make the start line, as fit and healthy as possible. Not only so we can complete the marathon, but so we can enjoy every second of a once in a lifetime opportunity.
The past few months have been the hard work, with every run you have got stronger and faster.
Every time you put on your trainers and stepped out that door you have improved. There is no such thing as a bad run. Every step you take is a step closer to finishing.
There is nothing else that we can do to get any faster at this stage. If you haven’t started tapering yet, you should really think about it. After months of training, your body needs the time to recover and get back to 100%.
For me, tapering is the hardest bit of training. I always think there is more I can and should have done. But I have a plan of how to make sure I stick to my tapering. For me, I am going to reduce my effort on my runs.
So rather than going 90% at my speed session with my running club I will give it 60%. Rather than running 25/30k I will take 10/15k off that and make sure its steady. I won’t run looking at my watch, but run just to keep fitness.
But for every person this is different and you need to choose what works for you. The most important thing is ensuring you get that rest now, you get those carbs in and you replenish your stores ready for the big day.
On Sunday the 28th April at 10am we will achieve something that I think pretty much every person has in their bucket list, to run a marathon.
I can’t even imagine the feeling when I finally cross that finish line. Last year I was there cheering on our runners and the atmosphere was truly electric, I’ve never seen anything like it.
We might run the actual race alone, but we are united. United with 100 people running for The Brain Tumour Charity and 40,000 other people all running for their own personal reasons.
Running a marathon has been something I always wanted to do but never thought I would have the discipline or fitness to ever dream of. Now I am days away from achieving this.
There are so many people that I couldn’t have got this far without. Every like, every comment, every word of motivation has been what’s kept me going. So thank you everyone.
Training in the cold, dark winter is hard. Running four times a week is hard. Spending hours on the road, gym, bike and pool is hard. But this is nothing, compared to what people suffering with a brain tumour and their families have to deal with.
We all have our own reasons for why we are running The London Marathon. When it gets hard we need to remember those reasons and that will give us the strength to carry on. With every step when you see your shoelaces, remember every single person from The Brain Tumour Charity is behind you.
We are so grateful for your support, the awareness and the money we raise from this event will help to ensure that we drive forward to find a cure. Because we know, a cure really can’t wait.